1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of connecting modular devices in a computer, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing generic connector bays, and connector cables and modules that are capable of receiving a variety of hardware modules within the interior portion of a personal computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Plug-in expansion boards enable manufacturers of computer systems and users to expand the capabilities of their computer systems as desired on a modular basis. An expansion board is a printed circuit card that slides into one of the expansion slots provided in the housing of a computer system. Expansion boards are often further distinguished by the standard followed by their interface or the connector at the bottom of the board. For example, an ISA expansion board follows the Industry Standard Architecture bus standard and a PCI expansion board follows the Peripheral Component Interconnect standard.
Typical expansion boards that may be placed within a computer include additional microprocessors, additional memory, fax/modem capability, network interface, television tuners, sound cards, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, and graphics cards. In portable computers, hardware components such as these are packaged in portable computer memory card international association ("PCMCIA") cards and miniature peripheral component interface (mini-PCI) cards, both of which are small expansion modules each roughly the size and shape of a credit card. These cards allow the user to expand the processing or interfacing capabilities of a portable computer with the insertion of a single card into the computer and interfacing it with the motherboard or other circuit board, in the computer. PCMCIA cards have connectors built into them whereas mini-PCI cards do not. For this reason, PCMCIA cards arc more expensive and computer system manufacturers are migrating toward using mini-PCI cards instead of PCMCIA cards. It is therefore desirable to have an adaptable system of connectors and cables that may be used with a variety of miniPCI cards.
The expansion boards may be either installed during assembly of the computer system at the manufacturer, or a user may install one or more expansion boards at a later time. The circuit board interface may be designed to accommodate all the expansion boards to be included when they are installed during manufacture, however, a problem arises when a user wants to add a new expansion board that was not anticipated during manufacture, and there is not enough room on the circuit board to accommodate the expansion board.
In the prior art, an expansion board in the form of an expansion module is often insertable through an exterior housing side wall slot of the computer into an interior housing card chamber within which a PCMCIA frame or connector having an ejector mechanism associated therewith is positioned. The inner end of the inserted card is forcibly plugged into and electrically connected with a complementary pin connector portion of a PCMCIA connector that is in turn, directly and permanently electrically connected to the computer system motherboard. Alternatively, the expansion modules may be installed entirely within the interior of the computer and attached directly to the motherboard.
Many types of expansion boards have a built-in connector that is accessible by the user to connect an external data signal line. Examples include RJ11 connector to connect a modem card to a telephone line, an RJ45 connector to connect a network card to a network link, and an antenna or cable connector to connect a TV tuner card. A further problem may therefore arise when a user attempts to add an expansion board requiring an external connector, and the expansion board does not fit on the motherboard or cannot be positioned so that the connector is readily accessible to the user.
It is therefore desirable to provide a computer system capable of being upgraded with a new or additional expansion boards regardless of prior configurations, and to have access to any required external connector ports on the expansion boards installed in the computer system.